History of Gambèr-Aly (novella)

History of Gambèr-Aly

Author	Arthur de Gobineau
Translator	Forrest Morgan James Lewis May
Country	France
Language	French
Genre	Novella
Publication date	1876
Published in English	1877
Preceded by	The Illustrious Magician
Followed by	The War with the Turkomans

History of Gambèr-Aly (French: Histoire de Gambèr-Aly) is a picaresque novella by Arthur de Gobineau originally published in the 1876 collection Tales of Asia.

Plot summary

Gambér-Aly, a good-looking, cowardly young Persian, who by accident had killed one of his comrades in a fight, takes refuge in a mosque, where the tomb of a saint shield him from justice. By a strange turn of events, he becomes the object of the attention of a wealthy woman, as well as of the veneration of the people.

An affluent concubine of the governor pays blood money to the relatives of the murdered man, and forcibly removes Gambèr-Aly, fainting from fear, to her luxurious villa. He eventually marries her, and takes his former enemies and betrayers into his service as his most respectful slaves.

References

• Rowbotham, Arnold (1929). The Literary Works of Count de Gobineau. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion.
• Valette, Rebecca M. (2017). Arthur de Gobineau and the Short Story. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

External links

• Histoire de Gambèr-Aly at Wikisource